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Murder Calls

Monday’s post on Jeanne Moreau included a discussion of Cornell Woolrich who wrote The Bride Wore Black and many other novels that were made into movies. After posting, I thought it would be great to have a festival of Woolrich’s books and the movies with discussions about each. I mentioned it to Mary Fran and she suggested writing a grant through one of the foundations associated with Wells Fargo Philanthropy to fund it as a Bryan/College Station Library project. The only catch was that the application needed to be submitted that day, July 31, by 5:00 PM.

Deadline be damned, we did it. The project was changed in the writing to Classic Books/Classic Movies. Not limited to Woolrich books. We plan to have six book/movies the first year—about one every other month—in which we read a book and view the movie followed by a discussion of both book and movie. The events will be free to the public. The titles will be available in the library for loan before the event. These titles will be classics in the sense that they were both popular and important in their genre, but are seldom found on required reading lists.

We plan to put together a committee of librarians, writers, and educators to make this work. We hope to reacquaint members of the older generations with works that were part of their cultural experience and introduce younger generations to these writers, directors, actors and actresses. We hope to foster multi-generational discussions.

Mary Fran and I welcome suggestions for classic books/classic movies from you. You can leave them in the comments. Any and all genres are welcome.

E Komo Mai, Welcome and Aloha!

I write hardboiled mystery stories, most of which are set in Hawaii. Hence the title “Hawaiian Noir.” One reviewer called my novel, The Splintered Paddle, “Hawaiian Noir at it’s best.” Is there such a genre as Hawaiian Noir? Yes. The movie, Hell’s Half Acre (1954), was the first example, but not many followed. After 63 years,it is time to kick some life back into this genre.

The subtitle, “Murder Calls” pays homage to a popular radio show that aired from 1935 to 1975, “Hawaii Calls.” At the peak of its popularity, the show reached 750 stations throughout the world and introduced listeners to live Hawaiian music.